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I am picking up a keg later someone got for me, i'm not 100% sure if it is stainless steel or not.

I Already have one as a boiler for my still so my question is what should I do with the other keg?

I was thinking of cutting the top off and using it to cook mash in, any other suggestions

You can "cut" aluminum with a knife blade

You can't cut Stainless Steel

Big Ol Pot, Thumper, Stilling Stool . . .

Coyote

Once you establish that it is ss I would think hard about making a thumper and running in pot still mode . I'm real happy with my rig : 15.5 boiler , 15.5 thumper , Liebig condenser .

I always keep my eye out for extra kegs. I have a couple extra now. You can use it to store/collect low wines from your stripping runs. Just need a 2" cap, good gasket and a clamp.

A thumper is a good idea if you need one.

You could look into all the different kettle designs. There are a LOT of designs out there. False bottoms, electric, gas, etc... A PID controlled RIMS setup caught my eye.

I have a 15.5 keg for my boiler and got a 13 gal keg for doing my mash both were stainless u can cut it I used acouple cut off wheels to cut the top off the 13 just take time

it is stainless steel for sure i got it right here, its a 55L same as my boiler

Take out the spear and use it as a fermenter. Cleaning really isn't the issue some make it out to be. Oxyclean is a wonderful thing.
I have a couple that I cut the top off to use as fermenters, regret that move now. Should have left them unmolested.

bellybuster wrote:Take out the spear and use it as a fermenter. Cleaning really isn't the issue some make it out to be. Oxyclean is a wonderful thing.
I have a couple that I cut the top off to use as fermenters, regret that move now. Should have left them unmolested.

if you hadn't cut the top off you could have repurposed them later

I like the idea of using them as a fermenter without cutting the top then I could use it for something else later.

I didn't have to clean my boiler one as much as it was brand new and came sterilized but this one is one from a club.

there is one thing about this keg i have noticed which is not on the others and i suspect i know the answer to this one to, along the edge of the top is a blue plastic cap type thing. I will post pictures of it, but i was curious to know what it is, my thoughts are that its a safety valve, so it blows if there is too much pressure in the keg. this is a euro keg by the way, so its one of those with the screw valves not a sankey one.

stand by for pics

Believe that is a gps locator. Was your keg legally acquired?

bellybuster wrote:Believe that is a gps locator. Was your keg legally acquired?

yeah it was, it was originally bought from a cash and carry by a working mens social club, I then bought it off them for a donation to the club. As it wasn't purchased from a brewery I'm not sure why it would have a gps, I will use a mirror to look in to the keg and see if it comes out the bottom if not then its not a valve and its probably like you say a locator.

I think it might be an RFID tag for asset tracking, only works at close range e.g within about 20cm

I just wrenched it off, its an asset tracker, just an RFID tag so low range

ok so I got this thing off and I was curious and thought I would clear some things up for people, this is NOT a gps tracker, that would require a power supply for one, it is an RFID tag for asset management. they can not track you to your house because this works at very low range, thing of the alarms in the shops.

so I decided to rip this thing apart to show you, I snapped it in the process but you can see it basically a coiled wire, that coil tells a reader the number of this keg and then they can track it on the database to get the history of this keg and where is has been.

its held on with a ring that is just tack welded to the keg, it has a plastic protection layer, inside it is encased in rubber to protect it even further, dig away at that with a knife and you come to the RFID tag in the middle.

long story short there is nothing to panic about with these tags, just rip it off with some pliers and dispose of it somewhere.

Hi how did you get the valve stem out ?

Smeggedup wrote:Hi how did you get the valve stem out ?

There is actually a great tutorial on Youtube, give it a google search!

Thanks I've looked and tried but
Most videos show kegs having a ring that rotates out
Mine doesn't seem to have a ring that will rotate

There are several types of kegs can you post a picture? I did think the Budweiser stem was the same however.

Managed to get mine out
It was the same as the above pia the get out

With the threads in the collar you may be able to thread in a column or piping for a thumper.